Former President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that local police will play a key role in delivering his campaign pledge of carrying out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants if he wins re-election this November.
“Look, we have to deport a lot of people, and they have to start immediately,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday in an interview held near the U.S.-Mexico border, where the former president made a campaign stop.
Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential primary contest, said he would give local police officers immunity to carry out his plan.
“They understand who these migrants are. They know them by their first name, their last name, they know where they come from,” Trump said. “It’s going to be the local police are going to turn them over and we’re going to have to move them back to their country.”
Trump has made immigration a major focus of his 2024 presidential campaign, using tough rhetoric and pledging to bring “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if he returns to the White House.
His allies, including Steve Bannon, have also been pushing the extreme measure.
“Mass deportations are going to start, if you don’t like that, then don’t vote for President Trump,” Bannon said Thursday on his “War Room” podcast.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Thursday blocked a Texas law, originally set to take effect next week, which would allow police to arrest those who cross into the country illegally and would also enable local judges to order their deportation.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the ruling.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who joined Trump Thursday at his visit to the U.S. southern border, said he will continue fighting to protect his state from what he described as President Joe “Biden’s migrant crisis.”
“Texas has the right to defend itself because of President Biden’s ongoing failure to fulfill his duty to protect our state from the invasion at our southern border,” Abbott said. “Even from the bench, this District Judge acknowledged that this case will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Abbott has endorsed Trump and the former president said he is considering the governor as a potential running mate.
Biden visited the border Thursday as well hoping to score a win on the issue after Trump encouraged his party’s congressional lawmakers to block a bipartisan bill, which would have imposed the toughest border enforcement measures in decades, by, among other things, making it harder for people to claim asylum.
Trump, however, failed to mention his role in the legislation getting tossed out, claiming instead that “the United States is being overrun by Biden migrant crime.”
Trump has falsely stated that illegal immigrants are responsible for the majority of crimes committed in the U.S. despite studies showing undocumented immigrants are responsible for less murders than American citizens.